News and Developments in the Legal Field

The University of Aberdeen study published last week collected data on 580 women with unexplained infertility problems who were randomly selected to receive the fertility pill clomifene citrate, intrauterine insemination treatment (IUI), or no treatment at all save counseling on the need to have regular sexual intercourse. After the study’s conclusion, researchers concluded that the differences between the numbers of live births resulting from each method were not statistically significant and that neither the clomifene nor IUI treatments demonstrated any notable advantage.

Prof Siladitya Bhattacharya, who led the research, was quoted as saying that money spent on clomifene, IUI, and other ineffective fertility treatments should be redirected towards in vitro fertilization (IVF) and similar treatments which have demonstrated quantifiable advantages. The five centers around Scotland where the study was conducted have already stopped offering clomifene and IUI to couples with unexplained fertility issues.

Clomifene causes side effects in 10 to 20 percent of women who take the drug, including abdominal pain, nausea, bloating, hot flashes, and headaches, and increases chances of multiple births.

Infertility affects about one in seven couple trying to reproduce.

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Truck driver Stanley P. Chesney, 47, suffered abrasions to his left arm and leg in the accident and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) workers were called in to round up the escaped birds and clear the road. While eyewitnesses reported many chickens were killed in the wreck, an exact number has not been released; the surviving birds were taken to the Erie County SPCA in the town of Tonawanda for medical evaluations. An SPCA spokesman reported that says the trucking company, Ontario Inc. of Walkerton, Ontario, Canada will be liable for the costs of the checkups.

The ramp to the 190 northbound was closed to traffic for nearly two hours during cleanup of the accident. The cause of the wreck has not yet been determined, though officials on the scene noted that early indications pointed to unsafe speed or lane change as likely factors, as Chesney reportedly said he was distracted while attempting to change lanes before losing control.

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The study of traffic statistics and gas prices during the period ranging from 1985 to 2006 theorized that as fuel costs rise, more people drive slowly in order to converse fuel consumption and choose not to drive unless it is necessary, resulting in fewer drivers on American roadways and fewer motor vehicle accidents. Morrisey and Grabowski’s data analysis found that for each 10% increase in average U.S. gas prices, the number of traffic fatalities among all drivers fell by 2.5% and the number of auto accident deaths among drives aged 15-17 fell by 6%.

Morrisey also noted that as fuel costs are now over 60% higher on average than in 2006, the most expensive year covered by the study, he expects that the number of deaths resulting from auto accidents may fall by as much as 1000 per month from 2006 numbers.

Morrisey and Grabowski’s study was presented at a meeting of the American Society of Health Economists in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Automobile accidents in the United States result in over 40,000 deaths annually.

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The board panelists, selected by Maryland Labor and Industry Commissioner Ron DeJuliis, were charged with examining state rules governing crane operator certification and making recommendations to enhance crane safety for both workers and the public. Among the new proposals unanimously recommended by the advisory board are requirements specifying that crane operators, riggers, and signalers obtain training equivalent to a nationally recognized certification program; that crane in use must be inspected daily; that a master rigger be on site during assembly or dismantling of any crane; and that drug and alcohol testing be administered to crane employees within 24 hours of serious or fatal accidents.

The Maryland General Assembly’s Administrative, Executive and Legislative Review Committee must sign off on the proposed rules before they take effect; House of Delegates Speaker Michael E. Busch was quoted as saying he expects the Committee will likely approve the proposals.

Assuming a speedy approval process, the new regulations could take effect within three months. If all recommendations are adopted, Maryland would be the first U.S. state to set training standards for riggers and signalers.

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The 510 O’Brien Academy students will instead spend the 2008-2009 school year attending Philip Schuyler Elementary School, which is being used as “swing space” for students whose schools are undergoing renovation.

The problem at the Albany, New York school was first found July 9 when workers renovating the magnet school removed a window and uncovered a previously unknown asbestos ceiling. Superintendent Dr. Eva Joseph stated that no students or faculty members were ever exposed to the asbestos, and that maintaining safety at the school was the first priority. Air samples taken at the school reportedly showed no signs of elevated asbestos levels.

Absestos was formerly used in construction materials of many types before the ill effects of asbestos exposure became widely known. Aging school buildings can be particularly problematic, as aging facilities may expose and release degrading asbestos materials and children are especially susceptible to contracting asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma.

According to federal Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) guidelines, all schools must create and maintain asbestos management plans which include the locations of any asbestos within a structure, along with details of measures taken to prevent exposure.

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Childs, 43, formerly managed the network as an IT administrator for San Francisco’s Department of Telecommunications and Information Services (DTIS) before it was discovered that he allegedly changed the system to give himself exclusive access to the system. Childs refused to divulge the passwords to police or other authorities following his arrest; a court filing indicates that Childs felt Mayor Newsom was the only individual he could trust. According to Mayor Newsom, DTIS has now regained full administrative control of the network.

According to a motion filed by Childs, he intends to “expose the utter mismanagement, negligence, and corruption at DTIS, which if left unchecked, will in fact place the City of San Francisco in danger.”

The city’s multimillion-dollar FiberWAN (Wide Area Network) carries about 60 percent of the municipal government’s network traffic and stores records including city officials’ e-mail, municipal payroll files, confidential law enforcement records, jail bookings, and other sensitive data. Had Childs not handed over the passwords, a reconfiguration of the FiberWAN could have cost the city hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars and taken weeks or months to complete.

Childs remains imprisoned on $5 million bail; a motion to reduce the amount was denied Wednesday.

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The 30-page study detailed several cases in which individuals who suffer from serious health conditions including sleep apnea, multiple sclerosis, heart problems, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder were improperly granted commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), enabling them to operate heavy trucks and buses. The report also went on to indicate that over 1,000 currently licensed commercial drivers have been diagnosed with vision, hearing, or seizure disorders, adding that such medical conditions generally preclude the granting of a CDL, and named several cases in which medically unfit truck and bus drivers caused fatal accidents.

While US safety regulators have recommended eight separate proposals to increase bus and trucking safety since 2001, including a proposal to establish minimum medical health standards for commercial vehicle operators, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has not executed any of the recommendations.

In 2006, the U.S. Transportation Department recorded around 7.3 million commercial driver violations, including truckers violating current federal medical rules in all 50 states, though Texas, Maryland, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Alabama, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Ohio accounted for half of all such violations. During the same year, approximately 5,300 people died and 126,000 people were injured in commercial bus and trucking accidents.

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The crane, owned by Houston’s Crane Rental Division Inc., reportedly fell over when the sign twisted due to strong winds and pulled the crane after it. No injuries were reported to have resulted from the incident.

The crane collapse follows closely on the heels of a disaster Friday in which the nation’s largest mobile crane collapsed at a Houston oil refinery, striking a second, smaller crane and killing four contract workers.

In 2005 and 2006 Texas led the nation in crane-related fatalities, with a total of 26. Crane regulation in the United States varies widely depending on city and state; in Texas, cranes are unregulated by state or local laws and are only subject to federal guidelines.

Crane safety has been in the public eye this year due to fatal crane collapses in locations such as New York City, Miami, and Las Vegas. Also Monday, New York City crane inspector Michael Carbone resigned from the city’s Buildings Department. Carbone had been suspended without pay in June after inspectors identified him as having neglected his duty and failing to take action on complaints of corruption related to crane operations.

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The new state law, which went into effect July 1, entitles workers to keep firearms in their vehicles for self-defense while driving to and from work or for hunting purposes, but contains several exceptions, including schools, nuclear plants, correctional facilities, national defense and aerospace contractors, homeland security installations, and locations where combustible materials or explosives are manufactured, used, stored, or transported.

Within the first week of July, Orlando’s Walt Disney World claimed exemption from the law because explosives are routinely used in the park’s fireworks show, and first suspended and then fired an employee who brought a gun to work in protest of the company’s decision. Spokesmen for Universal Studios, also in Orlando, cited the fact that there is a public school on the park’s property as their reason for disallowing firearms, while Georgia-Pacific’s Palatka mill claimed exemption due to homeland security issues relating to the plant’s consumption of large amounts of barge-delivered oil which make the plant subject to the Maritime Security Act.

Gun rights activist groups including the NRA have vigorously protested the companies’ claimed exemptions, saying workers’ rights are being violated. However, an injunction to temporarily suspend the new law has already been filed in Federal court.

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The March shooting death of 55-year old Thomas Hickman had been investigated as a homicide when Hickman was found dead near a remote New Mexico highway with his mouth covered with duct tape and a fatal gunshot wound to the back of his head. However, when investigators discovered the weapon used in the shooting tied to a bundle of balloons tangled in a nearby cactus, they began looking into the possibility that Hickman had killed himself in such a way as to make his death appear to be a murder following a carjacking.

After being alerted to a fourth-season episode of the CBS television series CSI titled “Homebodies,” which depicts balloons being used to make a gun float away following a suicide, police rented the show and found significant similarities between the fictional scenario and the Hickman case. An examination of Hickman’s Dallas home turned up metal shavings matching the gun used in Hickman’s death; police spokesmen said Hickman had shaved down the gun’s trigger guard in an attempt to lighten the weight of the weapon.

Hickman had taken out an insurance policy on himself which paid his wife nearly $800,000 if his death was found to have been accidental.

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